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Story Dice

Story Dice is a creative tool to prompt ideas for plot, character, and setting. This idea generator can be used effectively for both written and oral storytelling.

This app can be used with a wide variety of age groups ranging from preschoolers to teenagers.
The user interface is simple enough for ages 3+ to use without any additional instruction. The use of the app doesn’t require reading, so it’s an ideal tool for using in a preschool story circle (see lesson plans) as well as a general writing prompt for all ages without reading or native language barriers.

“I see an app like Story Dice being useful in a similar manner – starting with a basic storytelling exercise, or thinking of a song that has the picture in it, and moving up to something like a story about school, or about home, or anything else that might have been identified as a problem area.” – Apps for Mental Health Practitioners blog

“My favorite thing about Thinkamingo’s Story Dice app is how easy it is to use. No elaborate explanations or instructions necessary because the interface is clean and clear and intuitive. Young children can use it independently, but young adults will also find it engaging. It’s also a lovely design – appealing and fun to use. Really a great tool for creating writing prompts or guiding an oral narrative assignment.” – Claire Brantley, Vice President, Pearson Learning Solutions

“Pictograms do not require the ability to read, which is great for my Kindergartners and those who have difficulty reading.” – Consonantly Speaking, SLP blog

“We are using Story Dice for our Personal Narrative writing unit. I have 3 autistic kiddos in my class & 3 others with special needs. Projecting the Story Dice is an awesome prompt for all of my class, but especially for these unmotivated writers. They can’t wait to select one of the 10 dice to make a connection and write a narrative piece. It has made it easy for me to provide prompts and especially easy for me to differentiate among a vast range of learning abilities! YOU ROCK! Thank you.” – Marie P., 2nd Grade Teacher

Features:

Universal App for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch with Retina support.

Android app for phones and tablets include the Kindle Fire.

Choose number of dice to roll, 1-10.

Realistic dice sounds and still images.

100+ pictograms in dictionary.

No reading necessary.

Game Ideas:

Charades – Use the single die roll to determine a charade item.

Stories With Friends – Form a circle. Roll the Story Dice (any number, 1-10). Create a sentence including all of the items from the dice. Pass to the next person and repeat, adding onto the story each time.

Song Challenge – Roll a single story die. Come up with a song that includes that item in the lyrics.

Poems With Friends – Same as Stories With Friends above, using only 1-2 dice, and create rhyming lines.

Drama Club – Roll dice (any number). Form a character using these items, then create an improv skit with friends as your characters!

Education Applications:

Story Dice is primarily useful in higher order activities under Bloom’s Taxonomy, particularly Synthesis, where you create, invent, compose, predict, plan, construct, design, imagine, propose, devise, and/or formulate. You can devise less and more challenging activities, as in the following example.

Sample Journal Activity “My Perfect Day” using Bloom’s Taxonomy

Student/Short Version: Student will create a character using Story Dice, then describe/write/dramatize their own “perfect day” from their character’s perspective.

Teacher Version: Student will create a unique character using the Story Dice for seed ideas. After writing a short character sketch, student will compose a Journal Entry called “My Perfect Day” writing from their new character’s perspective. The evaluation step is the highest order activity and is a self-grading option.. Finally, a fun bonus option in a classroom or small workgroup setting is to have students perform their journal entries as monologues, in character, possibly interacting with each other, adding a drama element.

Knowledge: Roll five or more Story Dice. Identify and describe the pictures on dice.

Comprehension: Paraphrase the task (Journal Activity “My Perfect Day”) in which you will use the dice.

Application: Prepare a chart with five categories: name, age, job, pets, hobbies. Place each dice image within a category. Imagine that you are this character and write a short paragraph describing yourself in detail.

Analysis: Examine each feature of your character and determine what makes them special.

Synthesis: Compose a journal entry called “My Perfect Day” from the character’s perspective.

Evaluation: Decide what worked and what didn’t in your journal entry. Were you successful at combining the dice pictures in a believable way?

BONUS Activities: Perform journal entry as a monologue and interact with other students. Stay in character!

Story Dice for Apple iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch – available from the App Store.

Story Dice for Kindle Fire and other Android devices – available on the Amazon Appstore for Android.

Story Dice for Android devices – available from Google Play.

Story Dice for NOOK – available from the NOOK Store.

Story Dice for BlackBerry Z10, Q10, and PlayBook – available from BlackBerry World.